Homophily of Music Listening in Online Social Networks

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that homophily exists in online music listening behaviors across social networks, revealing gender and song type influences, and suggesting transferability of social network insights to music domain applications.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence of homophily in online music listening and explores factors influencing it, with implications for enhancing music recommendation systems.

Findings

Homophily is present in both Netease Music and Weibo networks.

Female users show higher homophily in music preferences.

Energetic and positive songs strengthen user connections.

Abstract

Homophily, ranging from demographics to sentiments, breeds connections in social networks, either offline or online. However, with the prosperous growth of music streaming service, whether homophily exists in online music listening remains unclear. In this study, two online social networks of a same group of active users are established respectively in Netease Music and Weibo. Through presented multiple similarity measures, it is evidently demonstrated that homophily does exist in music listening of both online social networks. The unexpected music similarity in Weibo also implies that knowledge from generic social networks can be confidently transfered to domain-oriented networks for context enrichment and algorithm enhancement. Comprehensive factors that might function in formation of homophily are further probed and many interesting patterns are profoundly revealed. It is found that female friends are more homogeneous in music listening and positive and energetic songs significantly pull users close. Our methodology and findings would shed lights on realistic applications in online music services.